10 years ago today, I bought a house. And paying off that house has been the focus of our money journey for years. There have been more ups and downs than I ever imagined. Several reductions-in-force at work, two unpaid maternity leaves, and so much more. A few months ago, we made that goal our … [Read more…]
I started my 15th year of teaching. For a decade and a half, I’ve been writing and reading alongside middle schoolers. It’s hard to believe. So hard, in fact, that I actually wrote out every year I taught, counted and recounted, just to really check. Then I spent some time thinking about all the things … [Read more…]
Let’s cut to the chase: we spent more than we needed to on our daughter’s first birthday. Way more. But the other truth is that we spent exactly as much as we wanted. Let me explain. For years, I’ve focused on living frugally. (I even won an award for it back in the day!) Frugality … [Read more…]
M is for money, B is for book, and GW is for generational wealth! There are so many different ways that I want to grow generational wealth. Some of that wealth absolutely involves my husband and I putting in the work to build up assets we plan to pass along. But another big piece of … [Read more…]
I must confess something. How long as I’ve gotten away from blogging (hello again!) is nothing compared to how long I’ve gotten away from budgeting. Over a year ago, I got pregnant and I got walloped with morning sickness…again. My second pregnancy was not a charm. Everything felt like too much. Layer on a pandemic … [Read more…]
Normally, year-end posts are all about numbers. Consumer debt reductions. Mortgage payoffs. Portfolio numbers. Net worth increases. And my last post about paying off $27,000 worth of debt was no exception. But to round out the year, I wanted to highlight one of the few goals that I actually kept that made me most happy. … [Read more…]
Every holiday, my nana and I had the exact same fight. She would give me more money than I knew she could afford, and I would spend the rest of the time she was visiting us trying to strategically hide it in her purse. If she happened to write a check, it was much simpler. … [Read more…]
This blog has helped me grow financially. It has introduced me to ideas and insights, writers and friends I couldn’t imagine a little more than a year ago. This blog has also helped me start to live more purposefully. What I never imagined, though, was that my struggles with blogging–more than my successes–would really help … [Read more…]
December is a lot of things for a lot of people. For me? Well, it’s mostly a race to finish A Christmas Carol before winter break begins. The Dickens classic is part of the curriculum so I’m up to my eyeballs in ghosts, chains, and mince pies. While the iconic antihero Ebenezer Scrooge is typically … [Read more…]
There’s something about the last month of the year. For all it’s magic, December always passes by in a blur. Still, as I looked through our numbers for November and thought about the month ahead, I realized that we’re making progress. And two little tweaks I made a few months back have been paying off … [Read more…]